"At least the whole back half of the cemetery [has missing vases]," said Harry Holtz, who has family members buried at Cedar Park. He pointed out headstone after headstone with a hole where a vase was once placed.

Holtz's cousin, Linda Ratliff, called the cemetery's owner, Perpetua, to find out what happened.

Copper Vases Missing from Cemetery

"They said, 'Oh, well, we've had a mass theft. Just give me the name of your loved ones. We are compiling a list,'" she recalled.

But a bankruptcy attorney representing Perpetua denied a mass theft, saying only that the thefts are part of a nation-wide problem. Many cemeteries are having the valuable vases stolen, presumably so they can be sold for scrap metal.

"We are aware of the problem, but there's no perfect solution short of putting an electrified fence around the cemetery. There is little we can do," the company said in a statement. "We have no gotten enough complaints to make this a huge priority, and as you know there are bigger problems."